Proving Yourself
by cascalada
Summary: When Ino feels unneeded in team 10 she goes to her father for help. When he teaches her a Yamanaka ability she thinks everything will be ok. Will it?
1. Learning with Inoshi

Typical Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the Characters

* * *

Yamanaka Ino was upset when Shikamaru became chuunin. She didn't know why she was upset, she should be happy for her team mate. Especially since he wasn't obliged to train with them. Ino was really happy about that. She always disliked Shikamaru's lazy attitude. However it meant all she had to train with was Chouji and Asuma. Sure Chouji was "good" but he wasn't the best ninja to have when training and sure Asuma was a jounin but all he did was compare her to Shikamaru. He'd say such things as "Try to think outside the box….like Shikamaru" and "Tactics always beat strength…..ask Shikamaru" and her most hated of praises of Shikamaru "Just try to act like him, he must've been doing _something_ right during training". That phrase had made her feel useless. It was as if Asuma had wanted 3 geniuses on his team. After all he had found Shikamaru from his low test score rut but maybe he felt the rest of his team couldn't compare. 

It had made her feel even more useless when she had fully realised that she had lost to Sakura. If it wasn't for Sakura's schizophrenia like quality she would have won. Then she'd have been in the finals with the other people and would've had the chance to become a chuunin. That would've made Asuma, Chouji and Shikamaru proud of her.

However she knew she had to do something. Something more that just training with her team and listening to complaints from the ever nit-picking Asuma. She also knew that her father had been working on a lot of special abilities that were powerful tools for anyone from the Yamanaka clan. Things like reading the minds of the enemy, disrupting a jutsu with just your mind or making the enemy lose control of part of their brain. Ino knew that these abilities would make her stronger. Now all she had to do was hope that her father would say yes.

* * *

He had said yes. 

Of course Yamanaka Inoshi had wanted to teach Ino some of the Yamanaka abilities. He **had** been working on them for quite a while now and seeing how easy they would be to learn would be an indicator of there usefulness. Also, he had realised, Ino hadn't been her happiest after the chuunin exam. After all, drawing with her rival she had thought was weaker than her had to have been a crippling moral blow. Especially after getting through the Forest of Death, which was a triumph for her.

However he knew he couldn't give her much choice of the abilities that she could learn. The disrupting one had a tendency to leave you chakra-less while the brain one had the "small" problem of backfiring. Really he only trusted teaching her the mind reading ability. His only 2 problems with teaching Ino that was the problem that she might abuse her power and read everyone's minds and that she might lose control of her power. However Inoshi thought that Ino could handle it so, later that day, they began training.

"Just concentrate on clearing your mind" Inoshi grumbled. After all he had been sure that Ino could have become even the slightest bit peaceful. Especially after 5 hours. "Then everything will follow through" If only Ino didn't need to go get something to eat he mused. Or go to the toilet. Or sweep the hair out of her eyes when it had fallen out of place. (Inoshi had always thought that Ino had looked better with short hair) Or answer the phone. Or……

"Dad!" Ino shrieked. Like a banshee. A loud banshee being tortured. A loud banshee being tortured with things of unspeakable horror. Inoshi cringed inwardly, wondering what had made his daughter screech like that.

"Yes Ino?" he sighed. This obviously wasn't his day.

"That call happened to be a very important call about Sakura's hair"" screamed Ino, going what could only be described as a fit of impatience.

"I never said anything about our phone Ino"

"But I heard it so clearly…" Ino sighed, obviously stressed by the voice that she had heard.

Of course Inoshi, after a while of thinking had figured out where the voice was coming from and, of course, he was proud of her.

"Ino" Inoshi said, voice full of pride at the fact that Ino did manage to read his mind and partly because he had figured it out and he felt that he had done well saving himself from more mind-clearing silence.

"Yeah Dad?" Ino said.

"You did it!" Inoshi proclaimed hugging his daughter tightly

"I did?" Ino questioned but soon got caught up in the moment screaming with Inoshi "I did it!"

"Of course you're going to have to keep on practising over and over again. After all it's not like you've mastered it." Inoshi said.

"I know Dad. I'm gonna practise it during training…..whenever that may be" Ino told him.

"That's great Ino. And remember" Inoshi said using a warning tone Ino knew well "you can't tell anyone about this ability. Ok?" Inoshi, afraid that his daughter getting angry at him for suggestingthat she would abuse her powers, didn't ask her not to. Of course he assumed she wouldn't anyway.

"I won't tell anyone" Ino promised, without a dishonest thought running through her head.Hopefully Asuma will drag us all together soon so that I can practise this ability while training Ino thought, hoping she would do well to show her team – especially Asuma – that she could be just asgood a ninja asthey were.

* * *

And that's Chapter one. Hopefully it doesn't burn your eyes out. I also know that Asuma doesn't go "I hate my entire team except for Shikamaru and I especially hate Ino" but if hedidn't then they'd be no story. 

Thanks to my friend Lerone (Fey) for reading it over first.


	2. Group training

Read the disclaimer from the last chapter

Also _italics_ mean mind read thoughts.

Luckily for Ino she didn't have to wait long for Asuma to call a training day. Just 3 days after she had learnt to read minds Asuma had told her about it. She was also told – with pride- that Shikamaru was coming as well. Ino was so happy about this news that Asuma had actually questioned about her mental state. However Ino couldn't care less. This was her chance to show her team that she could do just as well as they did!

Perhaps less lucky for Ino was that team 8 would be joining them for training. Sure, she liked Hinata and her quiet demeanour but she disliked Kiba and his loud Naruto-ish like qualities. She didn't actually have feeling for the other member of team 8. This was because Ino had never spoken to the bug user or heard much about him. No gossip, no rumours, nothing. Like he didn't exist. Of course Ino had thought about this and had realised, with glee that she could find out everything about the bug user during the training session.

So Asuma told her "Be at our training area at 8am tomorrow" and Ino had replied with a curt nod. Then after saying goodbye to Asuma she went to Sakura's house. Ino needed to catch up on some gossip and see if anything was going on between Sakura and Sasuke. After all, she couldn't let her rival get one-up on her.

"Time to wake up Ino!" Inoshi had shouted upstairs to her. It was pointless however as Ino had hardly been asleep and when her alarm clock went off she had jumped out of bed with such energy that she had actually gotten ready by 7:20am. Enough time for her to get an actual breakfast without having to rush all the way to the training area. She ran anyway though. She was just so hyped up about proving herself to everyone and during her run she had gotten some last minute practise on her mind reading abilities.

"_I really need to buy these fruits more often"_

"_I hope mom doesn't notice the stain on the carpet"_

"_Where are my youthful students today?"_

"_Where is that child! I need to get him to clean that stain"_

"_There goes Ino. Wonder where she's off to. Certainly not our training spot"_

Ino froze. She could actually guess whose thoughts **those** were. So she went to the location of the person, a nicely built house, and had shouted with all her might "**SHIKAMARU!"**

"What?" a tired voice answered back. The voice was quickly followed by the opening of the door. Then a face appeared, looking mildly bored.

"You're supposed to be going to training you know" Ino told him.

"You don't think I'd forget would you?" Shikamaru said to her with a knowing smirk. He opened the door to reveal himself fully clothed and the table covered with used dishes.

Ino silently fumed but at the same time cleared her mind. Listening for Shikamaru's thought to go into her head. She heard "I guess you're not going to leave without me so I guess I have no choice." Then a much fainter voice saying "Troublesome woman, coming to get me like I'm some sort of baby. Last time I checked I was the one who had risked getting killed by a fan wielding maniac for a troublesome title" Ino felt a rise of anger inside her but she calmed herself down, thinking that she would just kill him during training.

"Shall we go then?" Ino asked through gritted teeth. Shikamaru just nodded and started travelling to the training area.

When they got there they were greeted loudly by Kiba who shouted at them "Look at the lovebirds!" which promptly earned him a hit from Ino.

"Hey Ino" Hinata said. Without stuttering this time, Ino noted with pride. She had been teaching Hinata to speak without such a stutter. She was glad to see that it was working.

"Hey Chouji" Ino and Shikamaru said" Chouji greeted them in reply. That when Ino realised they were 10 minutes early so she sat down beside Hinata and started talking.

"_I'm hungry"_

Ino sat up, looking confused. "Did you say something Chouji?" she asked. Chouji shook his head while looking quizzically at her.

I must not have complete control yet Ino thought. She'd have to fix that later on with her father. However she didn't have more time to think about it as 2 teachers suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Hello team" Asuma said to them, eyes flicking to Shikamaru. They said hello back and Ino faintly heard Kurenai say the same to her team.

"Anyway, today we are sparring with team 8 today" Asuma told them. "Kurenai and I were discussing the partners and we've decided……"

"Asuma" Kurenai said, noticing Ino fidgeting fingers and her covert glances of Shikamaru.

"Yes Kurenai?" Asuma replied with a hint of confusion in his voice.

Kurenai whispered to him "I was thinking that we choose sparring partners within our own team first. I know that leaves 2 people from opposite teams against each other but..."

"No problem" Asuma said. "I know who to put against each other for a "warm-up" session"

"Great." Kurenai replied but before she could ask who was being paired up with who Asuma went to talk to his team. Kurenai mentally shrugged, thinking that Asuma can't have missed those glances and would pair Ino with Shikamaru, and went to talk to her own team.

"Ino and Chouji will spar first." Asuma said. "Shikamaru will spar with whoever hasn't got a partner in Kurenai's team." Ino felt her happy day fall apart like a sandcastle being smashed by a stupid adult with big feet. Luckily Ino wasn't as depressed as to ignore Asuma, as he then said "You'll all get to face everyone here so that'll be plenty to training." Ino then mentally jumped for joy and mentally hugged Asuma. Lucky he isn't a mind reader Ino thought.

"Anyway I'll tell you who you'll be partnered with next after the first spar." Asuma and Kurenai said at the same time.

"Anyway just split up and begin" Asuma told them. So Ino and Chouji walked to the other side of the area. Noticing Hinata and Kiba together Ino deduced that Shikamaru was sparring with Shino.

"Ready Ino?" Chouji asked.

"Yup!" Ino said cheerily, clearing her mind so she could read Chouji's mind. She knew what he would do just as he started the hand symbols.

"She blinked and saw Chouji rolling towards her in his meat tank form.

And that's chapter 2. Who knew Shikamaru thought such horrid things? Who knew Chouji could turn into a meat tank so quickly?

God knows why people reviewed but thanks Lems, Maiyuko-chan and CrimsonBlood WithMy FreshTears (Long name) Not really a pairing thing but a plan for the end has come Also Ino may not have lost but she didn't win. Besides a draw to Sakura isn't exactly the best thing ever…. Next chapter is gonna be a fighting chapter. I don't think I've ever tried a fight scene so hopefully it'll work out. Thanks to Lerone for checking it.


	3. The one and a half spar

Disclaimer: Chapter 1 and I bet this is annoying now……

_Italics _means thoughts

* * *

Ino had jumped out of the way at the last minute. After all, she reasoned, if I jump too early then he'd just change direction. However she was mildly surprised that he could become "the tank", as Asuma had kindly dubbed it, so quickly. He must've been training extra hard to master it.

"_Ino is right there. If I fake a roll to her I can turn back to normal and hit her by surprise"_

Ino just had to suppress a giggle there. Chouji had no idea about her new ability. This was really just perfect. Chouji rolled to her quickly, she jumped to the left and Chouji, as sure as his plan said, turned back to normal and tried to punch her. Ino diverted the punch to one side and kicked at his stomach, winding him while she made eye contact with him. Then she concentrated, sending chakra through her eyes and into Chouji's, throwing him off balance. She threw her fist out to punch him but he caught it.

"Oh….."Ino said at a loss for words. Then Chouji threw her over his shoulder and onto the ground. Ino then kicked at his feet, knocking him down as well and jumped away from him.

"_I'll use Akamaru to confuse her. She won't be able to tell which ones me!"_

Ino took a moment to figure out that those we're Kiba's thoughts. During that time Chouji had gotten up and had taken something out of his kunai bag.

"_Ino's gotten good. Hopefully this will trick her"_

Chouji threw a spherical object at Ino. Ino moved to the left so it avoided her and charged at Chouji, who had started running towards her.

"_I'll kick her behind the kneecaps, and then I'll grab her neck, throw her to the ground and press a kunai to it."_

Ino thought about this while running and thought to herself how Chouji could kick behind her kneecaps. Then it came to her, Chouji had been the thing that "Chouji" had threw at her. With this realisation came a cunning plan.

Chouji was right behind her when she tripped. He didn't have time to stop so he decided to skip kicking her and grabbing her neck and go straight to the kunai thing. However when he got to her he heard a poof and saw smoke. He turned round and saw Ino preparing to kick. He punched her and she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Realising what he had done, he quickly turned around and prepared to block.

Only to see thin air.

Ino had figured this out perfectly. She was lucky Chouji hadn't looked up when he turned around for the second time. So while she was somersaulting and preparing her genjutsu Chouji looked left and right for her. When her turned round she looked into his eyes and released it. While Chouji stood still – while looking dazed Ino noted happily- she kicked his legs from under his feet and punched his stomach again, causing him to hit the ground hard. She pressed a kunai to his throat and announced with a cheery tone "I win!"

* * *

Pity no-one had been watching that part. At all. Asuma had turned his attention to Shikamaru and Shino's fight at the point where she had been thrown on the ground and Kurenai had been watching Kiba and Hinata. This just made Ino more determined to beat Shikamaru and show Asuma that she could be just as good as the rest of her team. During their break she talked to Hinata.

"So how was your practise match?" Ino asked after telling Hinata, with excruciating detail, about her spar with Chouji

"I lost" Hinata sighed. "But at least I put up a good fight. Kiba just had more stamina than me."

"Wonder what happened in Shikamaru's match…" Ino question aloud.

"That was with Shino wasn't it?" Hinata asked. Ino nodded. " Well Shikamaru lost. Apparently he couldn't stop all the bugs that Shino had left around and after a while he had his chakra either eaten by the bugs or drained."

Ino had felt slightly deflated after that. Luckily for her Chouji and brought some of his fathers chakra pills. The pills, Chouji said ,with a hint of pride, replenished chakra back to maximum. He gave one toeach of his teammates.So, after ten minutes of break, Asuma and Kurenai told them their new sparring partners.

"Chouji, you'll be against Kiba" Asuma told him. "Shikamaru and Ino will be the ones who'll spar here." **YEAAAAH!** Ino screamed mentally. This was her time! Today, at this moment, would be the time that she proved to Asuma and the rest of her team-mates that she was as strong as them! She would prove her worth as a ninja and……

"Ino…….can we start now? I want to get this over with."

Ino just glared at Shikamaru, eyes hinting at a revenge with would include Shikamaru being in such pain that he'd wish he'd never been born.(Tee-hee…..you can imagine any revenge you want) She kept on sitting there, clearing her mind while finding out Shikamaru's plan. It was a very good plan as well. Using a newly acquired shadow illusion he would "summon" a shadow to do his bidding. The shadow would distract Ino long enough to trap her and win.

"I can wait for longer than you can you know " Shikamaru told Ino with impatience.

"Don't worry" Ino said while standing up and getting into her fighting stance. " I'm all ready now."

"Good" Shikamaru said, bringing a kunai across his palm to make him bleed. "Allow me to show you Lerone, the shadow demon"

Ino raised an eyebrow as the symbols flew from his hand "You named it?" she asked quizzically.

"…….." Shikamaru had just realised how sad that was. Not like her cared though.Thenthere was a poof and Lerone appeared. She was short with black curly hair and her face was grey. She had no eyes and her body was a jaggy mass of black. Not bad for an illusion Ino thought to herself.

"Lerone!" Shikamaru shouted. "Attack her!"

Lerone nodded and charged arms appearing at her sides as she threw a punch at Ino's way. Ino dodged it…not like she was in trouble. It being a fake illusion but she had to pretend she was afraid of being hit by it. She noticed Shikamaru running around her putting himself quite far behind Lerone. She cleared her mind and narrowly dodged a punch by the illusion. Then , without warning, Ino sidestepped it. Shikamaru smirked as she came closer.

"_Good thing she hasn't figured out it was an illusion"_

Ino stopped mid-run and quickly turned round. She saw a shadow stealthily slide along the ground. Quickly she jumped out of its way and it stopped.

"_How did she figure it out?"_

Ino kept her face straight, knowing that if she smiled she might reveal that she had been taught somethingextremely handy.Shikamaru was confused but he wouldn't let that get in the way of his strategy making. Ino looked behind her and saw the shadow "summon" still there. He must be keeping the illusion for something Ino thought.

"_Ok. Now this strategy will work."_

I must've missed that strategy. No matter. I'll just find out now Ino thought.

* * *

Fight scenes are hard to do….and I still have one and a bit more to do. Also Shikamaru's strategies are much cleverer than this one. I'm just trying to make them not as complicated enough as to make peoples heads explode…..Also a cookie to whoever can figure out where Lerone came from(It's obvious enough but I always liked thanking people like this) 


	4. The spar's conclusion

Ohhhhh. Whatever will go here? Couldn't be a disclaimer…..or maybe it is….ok it is. I don't own Naruto.

_Italics _equal thoughts being mind read.

* * *

Unfortunately for Ino she didn't have the time to clear her mind in preparation to read Shikamaru's mind because he had just charged at her, kunai raised. Ino jumped out the way to avoid it and he struck at thin air. Shikamaru then threw the kunai at her. She took one of her own and threw it, hitting the other one in mid-air and sending it spinning out of control. 

Ino then charged at Shikamaru, hoping to catch him unawares but he jumped backwards and threw more kunai at her, making her have to throw her own to block them. Only 1 left Ino thought to herself, obviously annoyed at herself that she had used a lot of them already. Ino looked around quickly, noticing that Lerone had disappeared. Ino was confused about the whereabouts of Lerone. She could still see Shikamaru looking strained, which could only mean that he was keeping Lerone around somewhere. So instead of reading his mind Ino decided to attack head on.

"Kage bushin no jutsu!" Ino cried out while making the appropriate hand symbols. 3 Ino's poofed beside her. Each of them charged straight to Shikamaru. Shikamaru threw 3 of his Kunai hitting 2 of the bushins but missing one. 1 of the 2 Inos stayed behind doing various hand symbols while the other Ino charged ahead. She threw her last kunai at Shikamaru, who slid to the side avoiding it, and went to kick his face.

Lerone came up from Shikamaru's shadow and caught her leg. So he's given her form now Ino thought faintly to herself. Her main thought, however, was more along the lines of CRAP. Lerone spun Ino by her leg and threw her away. She landed on the ground and with a flurry of hand symbols a small wood sprouted up. Ignoring the illusion Lerone charged at the other Ino and clawed at her. After being scratched apart Ino disappeared with a poof.

"_It's good to see my new summon works so well. If only she didn't have as much free will, she'd be perfect" _Shikamaru thought to himself. He then looked into the woods where Ino had been thrown. He heard a poof and then a whisper, which he couldn't make out. Before he could send Lerone out Ino came charging straight at him.

"Lerone" Shikamaru calmly told his summon "That's not the real Ino. You go into the woods and find her" Lerone shook her head and grabbed his hands, preventing him from doing anything that could save him.

"WHAT!" Shikamaru shouted, completely at surprise by his summons actions. Of course since Shikamaru knew the free will flaw in his summon meant she/it had a mind he guessed what had happened. Ino had used shintensin no jutsu to control her. Since she had him trapped he couldn't do a thing. So he did the only thing that he could do. Even if it was rather humiliating for him.

"I surrender."

* * *

After the battle Ino still had trouble believing that she had beaten Shikamaru. She had dreamed about it ever since he had been made chuunin and Asuma focused his attention on him. NOW Asuma had to pay attention to her. After all, beating his "best" student in a spar was a big thing. He also had no excuse to go "I wasn't watching". After all, he had been watching for most of the spar. 

She also knew her father would be proud to. She had successfully managed to read Shikamaru's mind in a useful way without losing track of the battle and being mercilessly beaten. She also knew she had proved to everyone that she wasn't the old Ino that had basically lost to Sakura in the chuunin exams. She had been training hard and now was her time to shine.

Asuma walked up to them both. When he got to them he stood there for a few seconds, looking at them both. Then Ino heard a gruff "Good work Ino. I see your training has paid off" from him. She then quietly thanked Asuma, even though inside her head she was throwing a congratulatory party for herself, and walked away to talk to Hinata.

After Ino told her about her spar with Shikamaru and how Asuma had **FINALLY** saw all the hard work she had done and did, Hinata had said to her "Congratulations Ino. Glad to see you're finally being recognised". Of course Ino, being slightly nosy of how Hinata's spar went, asked her who she was against.

Hinata said to her, with a hint of pride in her voice "I was against Chouji. Lucky for me I had been practising with my team otherwise I'm not sure what would've happened during the spar"

"Well you won and that's the main thing. Anyway how about we get a few people together and we celebrate?" Ino asked Hinata. Hinata said yes to Ino so, phoning Sakura and Tenten, they went out to celebrate.

Shino watched Ino walk off. There was something she wasn't telling about her win over Shikamaru.

Since 3 of them were only 12 years old, they only had enough money to go to a small cafe in the village. It was pretty crowded but, luckily for them, they managed to get a table and after ordering their drinks, they got round to talking about what they were celebrating.

"I can't believe you've finally beaten that smug know-it-all" Sakura said. She had never liked Shikamaru during her ninja academy days.

"Just goes to show how well Ino's been training" Hinata told her, feeling so proud of Ino. After all, Ino had told her all about how unfairly she was treated by Asuma and after Ino had helped in destroying most of the animosity Neji had for Hinata she thought she owed it to her and listen to her problems.

"Is he really all that good?" Tenten questioned. She had no idea who he was, being a year older she hadn't been in their class. Luckily she was on the same team as Neji and after helping Ino help Hinata she had became a part of the group.

"Well now I should be able to get the same treatment as that useless, lazy ninja" Ino said while sipping her drink. Of course they couldn't just talk about Ino's grand and glorious victory over Shikamaru all day so their conversation turned to other things.

"Ino" Hinata ventured. "Do you think that Kurenai and Asuma will ever start…?"

"Of course" Ino, Sakura and Tenten said at the same time. They had all discussed this for ages one night and had mutually decided that it would only be a matter of time before the teachers decided that they would train the 2 teams together.

Then the conversation turned to crushes and how well they were doing.

"So how's Sasuke doing?" Hinata asked.

A silence descended across the table. Then…..

"He's doing well!" Ino and Sakura told Hinata while glaring at each other. "He certainly isn't fine with **her!"** they both said with unconcealed menace.

"What about you Hinata?" Tenten queried" Hinata looked confused so Tenten decided to try asking more straightforward. "Who do you like Hinata?"

"No-o-one" Hinata told her stuttering. "_Naruto"_

"What Hinata?" Ino asked, confused by what she heard.

"I said no-one" Hinata said, more confidently. "_Naruto"_

"Naruto, Hinata?" Ino said, totally confused on where the voice came from.

"NARUTO?" Sakura and Tenten both questioned. Hinata shook her bright red face. Of course Sakura and Tenten didn't believe her so they made fun of her. (Nice friends…..--) Hinata shot Ino a hurt glare.

Ino was confused. She could've sworn she'd heard Hinata say Naruto but she obviously didn't. Then how could she have known….. Ino thought it through and realised something most dreadful.

I'm losing control of my ability Ino thought with despair.

* * *

Believe it or not I'm actually kind of happy with this chapter. I finally managed to put in Sakura without an "Omg whyyyyyy?" thing and I managed to finish of the fight WITHOUT the need for another one while managing to move the plot along slightly. The next chapter might be the last chapter so then you'll never have to read this ever again. :) Thanks to people who decide to review and if you don't……then you can't say how much you hate it now can you?

Edit: Now with freaking divider lines which i always forget. YAY

Once again thanks to Lerone and Liv for proof-reading it.


	5. Problems with Ino

See chapters 1-4 to find the same disclaimer.

_Italics _equal thoughts being mind read.

* * *

Ino was losing control of her powers. Panicking, she did the only thing that she could think of. She ran.

"Ino!" Sakura screamed after her. She tried to run after her but it was no use. There was no way normal, boring 12-year old Sakura could catch up to panic-stricken Ino. Giving up she turned to Hinata and Tenten.

"What was that about?" Tenten asked, confused. Sakura just shrugged.

* * *

Ino thought it was a good idea to run away from her friends. After she was calmer she actually stopped and caught her breath she realised it was a great idea. Nothing was more embarrassing for her friends than their every secret divulged. Realising Ino might have just saved their friendship she was she skipped away to her house.

Of course to get to her house she had to go through a lot of the town.

Full of people. Something Ino had overlooked during her "I saved my friends" thought.

Ino's day was going to get a lot worse.

* * *

"Can't believe we ran out of crisps" Chouji said to himself. After finding himself crisp-less at home he had to walk to the store to buy more. Of course during this walk he could think of the things that could make him a better ninja. After all what with Ino's new grandness and Shikamaru's old intelligence Chouji didn't have much going for him. Unfortunately for Chouji he happened to see his top-secret crush run in a panic stricken state.

"Hey Ino" Chouji said while she ran past. "_What wouldn't I do for her to see me the way I see her"_

Ino stopped. She turned round with a disgusted expression on her face and, after staring at him for 20 seconds, ran away screaming the phrase "Oh dear lord. Not ever! **Ever**!"

Chouji stood there, confused. Then thought "That was weird. Perhaps father could give me advice on this. But first the crisps"

* * *

Now as Ino fled the scene of pure horror the only thing she could think of was "Bad thoughts! Must get rid of bad thoughts!" Since panicking tends to make you ignore everything Ino didn't realise she was going to crash into Naruto until the last minute.

"Hey Ino…You ok?" Naruto asked her after they both stood up. Naruto looked at her knee and noticed it was bleeding slightly from a small cut. Ino looked down as well, and then when she saw the cut she looked at it in slight shock and nodded. "That's good. I thought I'd injured you there or something"

"_I thirst for chaos! Just kill her and let us be on our way!"_

"_No! Just because I have your stupid chakra doesn't mean I have to kill like you."_

Ino just stood there, in shock from what she was hearing in Naruto's head. Was he schizophrenic like his team-mate Sakura?

"_Just one murder"_

"_No Kyuubi! Now shut up!"_

Ino froze. Had she heard right? The Kyuubi? Suddenly some things made sense. Like the chuunin exams and that mission they went on together. Suddenly Ino did the first thing she could think of. She punched Naruto in the face and quickly ran.

Naruto was in awe. Ino had a hard punch. When he noticed everyone staring at him he glared at them until they felt went back to their business. Naruto said under his breath angrily "What's her problem?"

* * *

Now of course at this point Ino was basically having a mental breakdown. She had just realised that the Kyuubi, the demon that had just attacked the village, was alive and in Naruto and that her team-mate had a crush on her. However Ino was getting closer to her home. As soon as she got there she could get her Dad to help her and then this nightmare will be over. Now all she had to do was get there without meeting anyone she knew. Fat chance of that happening Ino thought gloomily.

"Ino!" Someone shouted behind her. She turned around and found out it was Kiba. She braced herself, closing her eyes and wishing that she didn't read his mind.

An awkward silence followed

"Soooo…" Kiba trailed off. "Have you seen Hinata around?"

Ino opened her eyes, heart filled with relief. "Yeah" She told him cheerily. "I was with her at the café last"

"Thanks Ino" Kiba said. Then he walked off.

Ino just stood there in surprised joy. Then she ran off, hoping that she wouldn't meet anyone else.

When Ino finally managed to get home she was awed at the many secrets of the town. Who would've guessed that Ayame hated ramen and that Ami still held a grudge against her? Of course she'd learnt more horrifying secrets. She didn't need to know what Kurenai wanted to do for Asuma or Aoba's problems. Just too horrible Ino thought to herself. At least she was home where her father could help.

"Dad" Ino shouted, hoping for an answer.

"Hey Ino" her Dad called hoarsely. "I'm in the kitchen." Ino rushed in and saw him hastily closing a cupboard door.

"Dad, I have a probleeeeeeeem" Ino whined.

"What is it then?" Inoshi asked her, obviously curious.

"Well the…"

_Don't open the cupboard door for the love of god Ino"_

Ino stopped and looked quizzically at her father. Then she turned around quickly and opened he door Inoshi had shut when she came in. Inoshi just stood there, too shocked to move.

* * *

Yay cliff-hanger. Just because if it wasn't I'd never get this finished. Anyway since I've been lazy no-one shall remember this story. 


	6. Drugs and surprises

Disclaimer goodness: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I do however, own horrendous spelling mistakes and no spaces in the previous chapters. This one won't be any different, perhaps.

Ino stood, wondering what the fuss was about; all she could see inside the cupboard was bags. It was weird that 50 bags of flour were under the sink. She didn't even know that cupboard could hold 50 bags of ANYTHING.

"…_Cocaine."_

Ino stood there, too shocked to even think about thinking about moving from her spot. Her Dad was a drug dealer? Or perhaps a drug user? The one thought that kept going through her head was how could he have kept this hidden from her? She was a freaking ninja for crying out loud! She was supposed to be amazingly observant, and she couldn't even see 50 bags of cocaine!

"Ino……" Inoshi started, his voice crackling with emotion and his thoughts going mental. All Ino could hear was "_Oh my………I……Ino found out…disastero…"_

"Stop Dad." Ino said, suddenly gaining the ability to talk again. "Just stop"

"But Ino…..these drugs aren't mine. There someone else's! Not mine at all, I'm innocent I swear."

"Dad, These ARE your drugs, it's obvious." Ino said flatly, losing the will to be angry at such a pathetic man, one who couldn't even stand up to his problem and tell his daughter the truth.

Inoshi just stood there, at a loss for words, even his mind was numb.

"_Nice day for a walk…"_

Mrs Rigby, Ino thought to herself, pushing the thought to the back of her head. She knew she should get help for it right now, but from this man? Her druggie father…?

Suddenly an airy voice pierced through the house. "Honey, I'm home!"

"Crap! Ino, we need to hide this stuff." Inoshi frantically whispered to her.

"No Dad" Ino whispered back, her voice still emotionless. "You're going to tell Mom yourself."

Inoshi cringed. Ino knew that he saw the logic in it, yet he was scared. It would be hard not to be, Ino mused to herself. She decided to leaves the room before it got awkward with perhaps raging shouting, heart-felt pleas and, if it didn't go well at all, some sort of "divorce" phrase. Ino shuddered to herself at that thought. She loved both her parents and didn't want them to split up. However she knew that a secret like that would gnaw at her and her father from the inside. So really, she thought to herself, it's for the best.

"_I really need to get this place decorated"_

Kurenai, Ino thought to herself, smiling slightly to herself.

Ino then walked into the door.

Ino just sat their, slightly stunned she just walked into a door. She then got up, opened the door and lay on her bed, eyes staring at the ceiling, wondering just how her mum and dad were doing. She didn't want to intrude, and she didn't really want to read their minds, just in case it was going horribly. Ino fell asleep, thinking the one thought over and over again, "What will happen next?"

Ino tossed fitfully in her sleep, none of it peaceful (duh--). Her dreams drowned out by the voices in her head. Not insane voice like Sakura's inner personality, but the voices of others. Other dreams filtered through her head, mixing together making a maelstrom of confusion. Dreams of dog and bugs ran together then went apart, allowing the idea of a free 5 star buffet coming through, being overrun by Sakura and Sasuke falling randomly in love and having kids. Then came a vision, a vision so ghastly and horrible that anyone in the village would either scream in fear or baulk at it.

The chaos of the Nine tailed fox.

Ino woke up, sweating all over and panting heavily. The dream was horrible and the voices! The voices just wouldn't stop. They kept on coming in, drowning her own thoughts and giving her a massive migraine. She threw open the window in desperation and jumped down. She had to get away, make the voices stop. The only way she knew to do that was to run away, get away from the voices. When she landed she ran, without hesitation, in a random direction, not caring where she was going.

When Ino stopped running she started checking her surroundings.

"_I'm in the forest then"_ Ino thought to herself. This was quickly followed by "_Did the trees give that away? Stupid."_ At least the voices had quietened to a whisper, not as good as them stopping altogether but still an improvement. At least they weren't driving her insane as they were a while ago. With the rustling of the wind the only noise, Ino was able to think about her next course of action.

"_Well, I need to get help, and the only person who could help me is that drug-."_

Ino stopped, shocked at what she just said, her father was still her father to her right? Not another druggie, unable to stop himself thinking about drugs, not even able to help himself, never much anyone else. Then it struck Ino, she'd never be able to look at her father in the same light ever again. She could never ask him for any help, not even for her out of control mind-reading.

But the voices would come back, Ino knew that. She couldn't stay here forever and going back was suicide. She had no idea what she could do, and she sunk to her knees, crying at the hopelessness of her situation, "_That's it"_ she thought to herself, "_It's over"_

"Get up Ino" a voice said to her. She ignored it, thinking it to be another mental voice, hoping it would go away, giving her more time before the unthinkable happened.

Then she heard a swish of a hand hoping to hit something, and rolled out the way. She looked in the direction of the attack and standing there, in plain view, was someone who'd she'd never think would talk to her, never much mind attack her.

Best distraction period of forgetting about this story ever. Probably the longest chapter as well for this story so yay .

Thanks to Flaming Beauty for getting me off my lazy distraction period of forgetting. God knows why you wanted this chapter, but here you go.


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